Better Place raises $50M loan from European Investment Bank

Electric car network company Better Place announced on Tuesday that it has raised a $50 million loan (€40 million) from European Investment Bank to finish building out its networks in Denmark and Israel. Raising a loan means Better Place, which sells electric car charging service like a cell phone company, doesn’t have to sell any more equity to investors.

Better Place needs a lot of funds to get its networks built out. The company installs both charging stations and battery swap stations to create a network that enables its users to drive electric cars with the same convenience of gas cars. Better Place partners with utilities and governments in countries to provide subsidies to make the cost of the electric cars to its customers very low, and partners with car companies like Nissan to make the vehicles’ batteries swappable. The customer then pays a subscription service for driving and charging the electric car.

Better Place says in its release this morning that it is building a battery swap station in Amsterdam, and that about half of the battery swap stations in Israel are built. The company also says there are now 500 of the Renault Fluence Z.E. electric cars on the roads in Denmark and Israel.

Founded in 2007, Better Place raised $200 million in equity just last November, and said at the time the company had a valuation of $2.2 billion. Before this loan, Better had raised more than $750 million, from investors including GE, UBS, VantagePoint Venture Partners, and others. Better Place is the brainchild of Shai Agassi, an entrepreneur that formerly hailed from SAP.